Daily national era. [volume], February 13, 1854, Image 2

About Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854

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ay Tli# Daily Era oan ko had ?v?y morning
at the Periodical Stand of Mr. J. T. Baths, K*
ohange, Philadelphia; also, the Weekly Era.
By Mr. Jamms Elliott i? aathoriied to receive
and receipt for lubwriptioni and adverti?eiuenU for
Um Daily and the Weekly National Era, in Cincin
nati and vicinity.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1854.
KXTBACTB FEOM OUH CJKKE8P05DKHCE.
The brief extract* we present from our cor
respondence are mere indications of the state
of feeling among the People of the North and
Went. The language is severe, sometimes un
sparing, showing the anger exoited by this
monstrous attempt to violate good faith. The
exoitemeut pervades all olasses?Demoorats,
Whigs, Conservatives, Free-Soilers. Men who
have hitherto been advocates of Compromise,
now exclaim, " If such a Bill be passed by Con
gress, away with all compromises henceforth;
we hold no parley with a system that demand
? uoh sacrifices."
ANOTHER POUT.
" The Abolitionists may carp and deolaim
against thin movement. But the fact that this
Territory uouies in precisely as did Utah and
New Mexico?with full power over the subject
of Slavery in the bonds of its own freemen?
upon the very ground of non-intervebtion upon
which General Com* Mood in 1848, and which
formed the comei-stone of the Compromise of
1850?in, as we ^hink, uunwer enough to their
ol amors."
So writos one of the advocates of the Nebras
ka Bill. His representation is false. Pats the
Bill, and the Territory does not come in " pre
oiBely as Utah and New Mexico." The policy
pursued in 1850, in relation to them, is aban
doned in the measure before the Senate. This
is a point which the People ought olearly to
understand. Members, in their support of
this measure, are continually excising them
selves by the legislation of 1850, when in fact
the polioy of that legislation condemns them.
A brief statement of undeniable facts will
convict them of this. It was a prevailing opin
ion at the North, in 1848, that the laws in i
foroe in the Territories acquired from Mexico, ;
prior to their separation frcm that Power, reg
ulating the relations of their various classes of
inhabitants, oontinued in operation after that
?vent. This opinion was in accordance with
the writings of the most eminent jurists, and
with the general oourse of judicial decisions.
It was held by Daniel Webster, Henry Clay,
Thomas H. Benton, and not denied by the most
authoritative jurists in the South; and it was
the view constantly presented by the support
ers of General Cass, to reconcile the People to
the doctrines of his Nicholson Letter. Now,
mark, ? repeated efforts were made in both
branches of Congress, pending the bills for or
ganising Territorial Government*, in 1850, for
New Mexico and Utah, to repeal those laws,
or to declare them inoperative so far as they
related to Slavery; but th?y all failed. The
majority that earned through the bills could
not be induced to atsent to any form of words
whatsoever, which oould even imply that the
lex loci prohibiting 81avery was abrogated or
kmi become inoperative.
The polioy of the Nebraska Bill U directly
at variance with this. A law existing on the
Statute Book for thirty-three years prohibits
Slavery in that Territory ; but the Bill of Judge
Douglas, instead of letting it alone, as the Utah
and New Mexioo Bills lnt alone the local laws
in foroe in the Territories in 1850, proposes to
deolare it "inoperative, null and void;" and
for opposing this abominable proposition?a
kindred one to which the Congress of 1850
oould not be persuaded to oountenance?Dem
ocrate are now threatened with the displeasure
of the Administration and excommunication
from the Democratic Party!
TBS EXECUTIVE POWKH
Under the Administration of Mr. Fillmore,
the Executive Power vu freely exercised io
enforcing conformity to oertain legislation,
deemed obnoxious by a Urge portion of the
People. Independent men were dismissed from
ofioe, for no oflfanoe but that of a frank ex
pression of their sentiments Newspapers
sound in the principles of the Whig faith, were
proscribed for declaring their disapprobation
of acts which the Administration ohose to re
gard with special favor; and they were de
prived of the p.ivilege of printing the laws of
the United States, whioh wad transferred to
other papers, sometimes of no politioal faith,
and of no repute, whose simple recommenda
tion was, obsequiousness to Authority.
But Executive interference takes a wider
range than this. It is employed to prevent or
to diotatc the passage of certain laws, and is
brought to bear both upon the press and upon
the Legislative body. It is notorioos that
the men from the North, who rendered them
selves peculiarly odious to their constituents by
aiding to carry through the legislation of 1850,
ware for the most part rewarded by the Ad
ministration for their services. The reward
was ex pott facto ; but at what period was the
hope of it awakened in the heart of the yield
ing Member1 I
As to the Press, what loyal slaves has a time
ly dispensation of patronage secured at cer
tain important points in the free States1 Yon
will find in the columns of " the organ,'' from
dny to in the shape of quotations, pre
tending to represent Northern sentiment, the
tribute they pay.
Let us mention one fact, as a specimen of a
class Hie leading paper of the Old Line
Damoeraoy in Wisconsin, orthodox, long-estab
lished, always reoognised as a thorough party
organ, recently took occasion to condemn the
sshsms for the repeal of the Missouri Com
promiss. What is the result f It is deprived
of the privilege it has er joyed of printing the
Inwe of Cangret-e, which are now appearing
by authority in two obscurs prints of very
limited circulation, the only merit of which
i% that they ge for the project of Repeal!
We shall doubtless soon have occasion to
rooord other facts of the same sort. An Ad
ministration would be discredited in the judg-j
ment of its unscrupulous supporters, should
any measure to which it is committed, fail in
a Congress with an Administration msjority.
Kseeutive Intervention with the business of
LflgfeKtion of an important oharacter, Is the
nb, Wen-Intervention the exception.
For the National Bra.
BUBNS.
HV JOHN O. WHITTUC*.
0, memory, fragrant with the bloom
Of heather bell* and rosea'
0, l'oet of the heart!? to whoui
1U budding love uncloses!
Stilt paint upon life's noon, the gold
And purple of the dawning ;
Aud let uiy manhood'* hud behold
The dew of boyhood'* morning '
I oall to mind the auiuiuer day,
The early harveat mowing,
The sky with aun and aloud at play,
Aud flower* with breeses blowing;
When, wild with joy, I pressed hia lay*,
A new-found treasure, to me,
And heard along tha harveat way*
Their muaic chanting through ma.
The glory of those golden hour*
Soemed brighter for that singing,
From summer birds and meadow flowers
A sweeter welcome bringing.
New light on home-seen Nature beamed,
New glory over Woman;
And dai^y life and duty aoemed
No longer poor and oommon. ?
I woke to find the simple truth
Of fact and feeling batter
Than all the dreams that held my youth
A still repining debtor.
That Nature gives her haudiuaid, Art.
The thomes of sweet discoursing;
The tender idyls of the heart
In every tongue rohearsing.
Why dream of lands of gold and pearl,
Of knight and loving lady,
When farmer boy and barefoot girl
Were wandering thore already!
I saw through all familiar things
The romance underlying;
The joys and griefs that plume tha wings
Of Fanoy skyward flying.
I saw the same blithe day return,
The same sweet fall of evon,
That rose on woode4 Craigie-burn,
? And sank 6n crystal Devon.
I matched with Scotland's heathery hills
The sweet-brier and the clover,
With Ayr and Doon, my native rills,
Their wood-hymns chanting over.
O'er rank and pomp, as he had seen,
I saw the Man uprising;
No longer oommon or unolean,
The child of Qod's baptising!
My erring pride beheld the worth
Of lifo among the lowly,
The Bible at his Cotter's hearth
Had made my own more holy.
And if at times an evil strain,
To lawless love appealing,
Broke in upon the sweet refrain
Of pure and healthful feeling,
It died upon the eyo and ear,
No inward answer gaining;
No heart had I to see or hear
The diicord and the staining.
Let thoee who never erred, forget
His worth, in vain bewailings,
Sweet Soul of Song!?I own my debt
Uncancelled by his fhilings'
Lament who will the ribald line
Which tells his lapse from duty, .
How kissed the maddening lips of wine
Or wanton one* of beauty;
But think, while falls that shade between
The erring one and Heaven;
That he who loved like Magdalene.
Lilts her may be forgiven.
Not bis the song whose thunderous chime
Eternal echoes render?
The mournful Tuscan's haunted rhyme,
And Milton's starry splendor!
But who his human heart has laid.
To Nature's bosom nearer?
Who sweetened toil iike him, or paid
To love a tribute dearer7
Through all his tunefUl art, bow strong
The human feeling gushes'
The very moonlight of his song
Is warm with smiles and blushes!
Oive lettered pomp to teeth of Time,
So " Bonnie Doon " but tarry;
Blot out the Epic's stately rhyme,
But spare bis Highland Mary1
RELATION* 07 PAKT1X8 TO THE MOVEMENT.
The oommon remark here ia, that should Mr.
Douglas and the Administration succeed in
carrying the repeal of the Missouri Compro
mise, the Whig party, reorganised at onoe, will
oombine all the elements of opposition, and
oorne into poirer in 1856. It has been rumor- ?
ed that the delay of the Massachusetts Legis- j
lature to pass resolves against the measure, is
in part diotated by a desire to enoourage its
supporters in the prosecution of their sohemo,
under the impression that the free States are
hesitating and divided ; and the Whig Party
can then take advantage of their miscalcula
tion.
With the exception of a few of what are
styled the "Silver Grays," the entire Whig
Party at the Nortb is against the Bill, and
there will be great unanimity among its Rep
resentatives in Congress on the subject. Of
these, not a few, oaloulating upon tbo future
co-operation of Southern Whigs, are disposed to
make their opposition as liule offensive to slave
holders as possible. The speech of Mr. Ever
ett, for example decided as it waa in ill oppo
sition to the Bill, was qualified in it* closing
portion by professions of profound devotion to
the Union, and depraoatory remarks oonoern
Ing the agitation of the subject of Slavery. !
This, it seams to us, was all out of time and
plaoe.
It is not for thoae who have never assailed
the Union, to be protesting their love for it,
not'for those who have never enlisted in the
agitation of the subject of Slavery, to depre
oate it, not for those who are guiltless of pro
voking the present excitement, to ba excusing
themaelvea for sharing in it, not for those who
are aoting on the defensive, to apologise for
their oooduet Let the Union take care of
itself and let us bare done with the stereotyped
cant about the evils of agitation.
It was hoped by Northern Whigs, that South
' era Whig Senators, by an honorable opposi
tion to the measure, might furnish ground for
a reunion of the two sections of the Whig
party under the banner of Nationality. They
will hardly ba gratified in tbia respect. The
only two speeches in the Senate from the
South against the measure have oome from
Whig mambera. Mr. Dixoa baa proclaimed
1 the most ultra sentiments on the subject af
Slavery, Mr. J ones, of Tennessee, has given ut
terance to views incompatible with anything
like cordial oo-operation between the two sec
tionn of the party.
Messrs. Badger and Clayton are reputed
hostile to the bill; but it in quite doubtful
whether they will have the oourage to take
an open position. At all events, neither can
be oonBiderod an exponeut of Southern Whig
sentiment.
The truth in, the Slaveholding Representa
tives and Senators in Congress will act and vote
with a single eye to the advancement of the
Slave Interest. Let the opponents of that In
terest rely upon themselves. The North has a
majority in Congress; let it use the power with
which its numerical superiority invests it, to
protect its rights, and the cause of Freedom
and Free Labor, leaving Party organisations to
take care of themselves if they can. Let us
i have no nice calculations, with a view to fraud
| ulent combinations of antagonistic interests in
a Presidential struggle. The non-slaveholders,
united, oan fill the Presidential Chair, without
the help of any portion of the slaveholders, and
let them once do it, and it will give a lesson on
true Nationality whioh will hardly need to be
repeated. Such an act alone would redeem
both North and South from the domination of
an overbearing Oligarchy, and extinguish the
Servility on whioh it has become fat and inso
lent. The two old party organisations have
i outlived the issues whieh gave them birth, and
| the chief purpose tliey now answer is, to de
bauoh the free sentiment of the North, and to
bring both sections, by the triokery of conven
tions and platforms, into subjugation to the
Class Interest of Slavery. Thoy are enemies to
Freedom, to Personal Independence, to De
mocracy, to honesty and fair dealing. So long
as they control the oountry, there will be no
prinoiple in American politios, no manhood in
American statesmanship. If this Nebraska
movement should have the effect of shivering
them to atoms, and thus leaving the opponents
of Slavery, free and unembarrassed, to rescue
the Federal Government from the domination
of the Slave Power, dark as the transaction
now appears, its record would form the bright
est chapter in our history.
TUB GAME OF W8BEPBE8ENTATI0N CONTIN
UED.
Tho Kenosha (Wisconsin) Democrat says:
" A person would be led to suppose that there
really wa? some awful wickedness, some deep
iniquity, contained in this bill. Yet what are
the facts in this ca*e? The bill simply reaf
firms principles, ax to the action to be taken by
Congress in relation to Slavery in the Territo
ries, which have received the sanction of the
greatest and best minds in the nation
If thw comment were made upon the original
bill of Mr. Douglas, the Washington paper that
oopies it as a comment upon the present bill is
guilty of a fraud. If intended by the Democrat
to apply to the present bill, the fraud is charge
able upon that paper. To say that a bill, the
principal feature of which is a proposition to
annul the Missouri Compromise, " simply reaf
firms principles, as to the aotion to be taken
by Congress, in relation to Slavery in the Terri
tories, which have received the sanotion of the
greatest and best minds in the natiqn," is false.
The People are not to be deoeived in this way.
"VOICE OF THE PEOPLE"
We oontinue to present articles from our
exchanges, showing the state of public opinion.
Some of them are free in their denunciations,
both of the Nebraska Bill and its authors. It
is right that these gentlemen should know
what is said of them ; still, we do not wish to
be considered as endorsing the peculiar style
which others may seleot at times to express
their feelings.
THE VOICE OFJTHE PEOPLE.
Western Pioneers on Nebraska.?A
large Nebraska Convention was held at St. Jo
seph, Missouri, on the 8th of January. Dr. J.
H. Lane, of St. Joseph, presided, and there
were eleven Vice Presidents, and ten Secreta
ries Among the resolutions adopted was the
following:
Resolved, That we consider the agitation of
the Slavery question, in connection with the
organization of Nebraska Territory, dangerous
to the peaoe of the oountry, fatal to the best
interests of Nebraska itself, and even thro 1 ten- ,
ing the harmony, if not the perpetuity, of the
Union.
From the Bradford (Pa.) Reporter.
THE PROPOSITION OF MX DOUGLAS.
At the time this Compromise was passed,
James Monroe was President: and in his Cabi
net were Calhoun, Crawford, and Wirt, and
John Quinoy Adams. It ia now matter of his
tory that this section was submitted to their
consideration, and by them pronounoed legal
and constitutional. The majority of them were
Southern men, with Southern partialities.
Doubts have sinoe been suggested, by some, of
the constitutionality of the measure. Be that
as it may, it was an agreement between the
slave and free State-*?a compact solemnly en
tered into, and receiving the support of a large
majority of the Southern men in Congress, and
which, if disregarded and violated now, will do
muoh to lessen confidence in th? South, and
render insecure any oompromise which may
hereafter be adopted.
The oarefol and prudent men of the country,
everywhere, are arraying themselves against
this proposition, without distinction of party, or
reference to former opinions in regard to the
expediency or constitutionality of the Wilmot
Proviso. It presents an entirely new aepect to
the Slavery question, well calculated to excite
attention and alarm the oountry. It is worthy
of note, that the attempt to render inoperative
former arrangements between the North and
the South comes not from Southern men, but
from a Senator of a free State, and an aspirant
for the Presidency. What aotion Southern
men will take, is as yet unknown. We have
every confidence they will spurn the ignoble
offering, which is calculated in so eminent a
degree to arouse sectional animosities, to en
oourage agitation, to depreciate the feelings of
high regard with which the chivalry and honor
of Southern men is now regarded. We learn,
indeed, that some of the Southern Senators de
olare that they cannot honorably sustain a
proposition to repeal an agreement entered into
under suoh ciroumstanoes. We hate more
confidence that a sense of justice will actuate
the South, than that Northern men will be true
to the interests and wishes of their constituents.
?
From the St. Charles (Missouri) Democrat
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.
The Senator of the free State of Illinois, the
hero of Compromises, the speoial representative
of Voting Amenea?who should have believed
it, that he would so soon throw himself into the
arms of the S hi them Nullifiers, and snffer him
self to become a tool for their purposes!
And yet it is *o. The Nebraska bill, which
he ban propiMM and rocommended, not alone
tear* open the wjuuud anew, healed by the Com
promise, but it goos ntill farther, and tries to
open new Territories, in whioh Slavery had
hitherto been forbidden by imperative laws, to
Slavery. '
This must bpootne elear to every one, who 1
will eall the admission of Missouri into the
Union to mind, which took place under the ex
press oondition that in future Slavery should
not extend beyond the 36th and 37th deg. north
latitude. But now Nebraska lies north of this |
latitude, and would therefore be destined to 1
the extension of the spheres of human liberty, ;
but Dougla*, it order to prevent this, adds a
clause to the Uw which is to give a Territorial
Government to Nebraska, by whioh it oan be
admitted as a State with or without Slavery. I
Will this law pass both Houses of Congress in ;
the manner proposed. Thin is a question of
imuiense interest to all. Wo do not believe
that it will. It is really moro than imbecility
to expect thai the North will vote for a law,
by whioh all Territories would in fact be open- ,
ed Slavery, and the extension thereof, as it were,
recommended,
And who btars the blame of thin now agita
tion? Not t|e North, where even the Free- j
Soilers have been converted and pledged them- j
selves to the Compromise of 1850, but they are
Southern politicians, urged by the basest mo
tives, who agqin oonjuro up the tempest. Pro- j
teut me fromjmy friends! the South may ex
olaim in this ease. And Douglas, the giant of
the West, who has onoe already extended his
hand for the Presidential office, voluntarily
puts himself at their head and expeots, as mar
tyr, to be pronounoed holy, or in other words
to become President of the United States for
it. A fate awaits him similar to that of Cat*,,
prepared for him bv his Nicholson letter, and
to Douglai by his Nebraska bill.
Fran the Pulaski (N. Y.) Democrat.
DOUGLAS'S NEBRASKA BILL.
This imposition of~Mr. Douglas will pass
the Senate That body, a majority of whom
are from tie free States, and professed disci
plod of Jeffffson, will direct that the Territories
Hhall be thrown open to Slavery, that Slavery
shall be nationalixod. The only hope of the
friends o? the Territories is from the House.
We presume the propagandists will not be able
to buy otr Representative. They will buy
some Northern Representatives. They may
possibly succeed. The agitators, Douglas L
Co. are so anxious to sucoeed in order to make
capital, that we almost hope they may be grat
ified They can't make the Western Territo
ries, into which the hardy pioneers are already
entering, slavt Territories, or slave States But
thev can arcuee a bitterness of indignation
among the nasees of the North?they will
arouse it if thiy pass this bill?which Govern-^
ment bribes cannot smother, nor promises of
official favor tllay?an indignation which will
consign the aithors and abettors of the iniqui
ty to an intensity of political and social damna
tion, to a depth of disgrace and oblivion from
which there mill be no resurrection. Pass this
bill, repeal th? restrictions against Slavery in
the Northwestern Territories, reopen agitation,
and again experiment with the convictions of
Northern electors, around whom the shackles
of party hang but too loosely already?do this
if you will?*nd the most abject and blind
worshipper at.the feet of the slave powerwill
I before a twelvemonth has passed be made to
see and acknowledge?there is a North.
:??
HEW YOBK OR THE H tBBASKA QUEST IOH.
The Legislature of New York has officially
made known the voioe of its People on the
great publio question now pending in Congress,
by the adoption of the following resolutions.
In the House of Assembly, the vote upon them
wag yeas 80, nays 27. In the Senate, the
first three were passed by a vote of 18 to II,
and the last one by 23 yeas to 6 nays.
Resolved That we view with deep regret and
with unfeigned alarm the proposition contain
ed in a bill to organno the Territorv of Ne
braska submitted on the 23d day of January,
1854 to the Senate of the United States, from
the Committee on Territories, whereby it is de
clared that the " eighth section of the act pre
narator? to the admission of Missouri into the
Union, approved March 6th, 1820, was super
seded by the principles of the legislation ol
1850. commonly called the Compromise Meas
ures and it is hereby declared inoperative;
that'the adoption of this provision would be in
derogation of the truth, a gross violation of
Blighted faith, and an outrage and indignity
Shot the free States of the Union, whose assent
has been yielded to the admission into the .
Union of Missouri and of Arkansas with Slave
ry in relianoe upon the faithful observance of
the provision (now sought to be abrogated)
known as the w Missouri Compromise," where
hv Slavery was declared to be ? forever pro
hibitedTall that territory ceded by Franco to
the United States, under the name of Louisiana,
whioh li? oorth of 36 d.? 30 mm. jorthta*
tude, not included within the limits of the State
of Missouri." . . .
Resolved, That inasmuch as it ??. ?prwsly .
and in terms enacted, in an act entitled An
act proposing to the State of Texas the estab
lishment?? her northern and western bounda
ries the relinquishment by the said State of
all territory olaimed by her exterior to said
boundaries, and of all her claims upon the Uni
ted States, and to establish a Territorial Gov
ernment for New Mexico," approved Septem
ber 9, 1850, as follows, viz: "Nothing herein
contained shall beoonstrued to impair or quah
fy anything contained in the third article of
the seoond seotion of the joint resolution for
annexing Texas to the United States, approved
March 1, 1845, either as regards the number
of States that may hereafter be formed out of
Texas, or otherwise;" which said third article
of the seoond seotion of the joint resolution for
annexing Texas eoatains the following provi- j
sion7"And in such State or States as shall be
formed out of said territory north of said Mis
souri Compromise line, Slavery or ^voluntary
servitude (except for crime) shall be prohibit
ed " the principle and the application or the
Missouri Compromise is maintained unimpair
ed and unqualified ; and that the Legislature
and the people of this State will hold the ap
plication by Congress of a contrary intent, at
this time, to be in derogation of tho truth, an
arbitrary exercise of assumed power, an unpis
and unworthy violation of good faith, and an
indignity to the free States of the Union.
Resolved, That, although the people of tho
State of New York have abolished Slavery
within their limits, and have thereby expressed
their disapprobation of the holding in bondage
of human beings, they are not disposed to in
terfere with the rights of other States to regu- ,
late their intern^ policy aooording to their
own sense of right But, at the same time
duty to themselves and to the other States of
the Union demands that, when an effort is
making to violate a solemn compact, wheroby
the political power of the State, and the pmi
Wee as well as the honest sentiments of its
ciSsens will be jeoparded and invaded they
should raise their voioe in protest against the
threatened infraction of thoir righto, and i o
olare that the negation or repoal by Congress
of the Missouri Compromise will be regarded
by them as a violation of right and faith, and
destructive of that confidence and regard
whioh should attach to tho ?i*otment< of the
Federal Legislature
/Wwrf That our Senators and Heprnsenta
tires in Congress be requested to oppose any
artiop which shall look, in any degree, to
repeal or to a negation of the bjpding foroe of
the provisions known an the Missouri Compro
mise, and that they use all honorable efforts to
defeat the parage of thitt or any other bill
violating uaul Compromise, or authorising or
allowing the establishment of Slavery in any
portion of tbe Territories of the United States,
north of the line established preparatory to the
admission of Micsjuri, as aforesaid
Resolutions of a similar kind are before the Le
gislatures of Massachusetts and Ohio, and will
doubtless be passed. No time should be lost.
Tbe members of Congress who have not bad
tbe sense to understand the will of their con
stituents, should be admouished in season. Let
us see who is more potent?the People or tbe
President.
. There is a tone of stern indignation in the
resolutions of the Now York Legislature that
cannot be mistaken.
The St. Lawrence (N. V ) Republican,
one of the most influential Democratic organs
in New York, closes a long article, exposing
and denouncing the scheme of the Repeal of
the Missouri Compromise, as follows:
"The proposition now made in the Senate,
by the Committee of which Mr. Douglas is
chairman, is, that Congress should exercise
constructive jurisdiction on this subject, repeal
existing law in favor of freedom, and by au
thority of an aot of Congress, organising a Ter
ritory, carry and plant Slavery on free soil,
where a Conner generation in Congress had by
law prohibited its existence. This odious doc
trine of construction, enacted by Mr. Douglas's
bill, is an artifice to accomplish a purpose, for
which its authors shrink from the direct re
sponsibilities to themselves, and impute their
own aot to othere. We shall see how Mr.
Douglas gets on with his new position, and wc
shall see whether, as some of the slave propa
gandists claim, the Administration will play
seo'ond fiddle to iiim and his oontrivanoe. His
aot, like that of treason, should oarry its own
doom and that of its authors with it. A Gov
ernment that sets an example of broken com
pacts and violated faith, invites oontompt for
law, confusion, and anarohy."
Ere this, the Republican has learned that the
measure receives the support of the Adminis
tration, whioh is aotively engaged in pressing
it upon Congress.
EXTRACTS FROM OUB C0EBE8P0HDEHCE.
East Rochester, O., Feb. 6, 1854.
The effort in Congress to force through the
Nebraska bill is doing wonders for the Inde
pendent Democracy. I do not know a man,
either Whig or Democrat, who favors the pas
sage of the bill in thiB part of Columbiana
county.
Worcester, Mass., Feb. 10, 1854.
Worcester all right. A remonstrance against
the infernal Nebraska project of Senator Doug
Ian has received here, without much effort, over
1,200 names, commcncing with those ot ex
Governors Davis and Lincoln, Gov. Washburn,
Hon. John S. C. Knowlton, Mayor of the city,
and editor of the Palladium, the Democratic
organ of the county. All the papers, of all par
tie*, arc enthusiastic against the scheme. A
few old Hunkers, only, refused to sign. Thtf"
hoart of the Commonwealth is sound, and boats
true to freedom.
North Danvers, Mass., Feb. 6, 1854.
I sent to Mr. Sumner to-day a protest against
the Nebraska bill, whioh I have just been car
rying around among our people, for their sig
natures. Men of all parties have signed it with
alacrity. They view this new movement of
the slave power with immeasured abhorrence ;
and they are not only being converted to Anti
Slavery principles, but what is more, they will
become, if Douglas and his friends now triumph,
firm and fiercc disunionists. These men are
our most honest and patriotic citizens; and it
is because they are of auoh a character, that
they can sec no value in a Union whose " one
vital and animating principle is the propaga
tion and perpetuation of American Slavery."
Floria, Putnam Co, III., Feb. 3, 1854.
The time is drawing near when old Putnam
will send you a ho?t of subscribers. The leaven
is at work in the county, and will soon yield a
Seat harvest. No Pro-Slavery candidate can
i elected to any office in this county. The
people are wide awake, and may God grant
that this may be the oase, ?oon, all over this
glorious nation.
Elkhorn, Walworth Co., Wis ,
February 1, 1854.
I have heard only one sentiment upon the
subject, from all parties; and that is, detesta
tion of the scheme and of the schemers. Our
Hunker friends have been reading "Uncle
Tom's Cabin,'' and the " Life of Hopper, the
New York Quaker," by Mrs. Child, and they
have no^warm and lasting friendship for Sla
very. It does seem to mo as if that infamous
and atrocious bill cannot pass the House. It
cannot, unless under the pressure of the pre
vious question. If it pauses, we may as well
throw up the idea of the fact of self-govern
ment on this continent, or else begin an ag
gressive movement upon the system. Every
where, liberty has all along been on the de
fensive, instead of being aggressive against
Slavery. Liberty has been arraid to say that
her soul is her own, and she has just laid
down, and let the heinous and horrible villany
ride over her prottrate form, without dispute,
and with Boarceiy a oontortion. Whenever
Liberty holds hor tongue, Slavery immediately
construes it into fear or weakness.
You had better announce in your paper,
daily and hourly, your unswerving intontion of
an aggressive wide-spre.id movement against
Slavery, wherever it exists, notwithstanding the
resolutions of 1798, the Platforms of Baltimore
or of Pittsburgh, unless Slavery lets that Ter
ritory alone. There is only one thing now
that favors Freedom, and that is, discussion ; it
has begun; it is extending its influence through
the whole Union. The unspeakable enormities
of the system will be unveiled to tho gaae of
inuensod millions; and, although it may take
twenty-five years, yet the biasing light of dis
cussion will so inflame the wrath of an indig
nr.nt People against Slavery, that nn man may
be found, when that Territory knocks for ad
mission as a State, so hardened as to load his
namo with the infamy of asking for its exist
ence there.
What does it Mean??We see it stated
that the vordict against James Gordon Ben
nett, of the New York Herald, is worthless, as
the sheriff has made return that said J. O,
Bennett has no attachable property. Does this
indicate poverty or roguery ?
Philadelphia Register.
The Lower California Pirates. ? The
news from Lower California indicates the suc
cess of Walker's piratioal expedition, and also
that the spirit of filibustering is rife in Califor
nia, especially in Stockton, where secret meet
ings have been held. President Walker is
issuing proclamations and deorees establishing
the pay of the War Department?whiah, by
the way, is about the only department of his
Government just at this time?with as much
confidonoe as the Executive of a firmly
hshod Government Col. Watkins, the Vice
President, was ip San Francisco. So far, the
new Government soems to be doing a thriving
business, and it will not probably t?e long be
fore another ' agitation' will be started fur
the admission of a new and independent State,
who, like Texas, liberated herself, and auks ad
mission to the sisterhood of States. Truly thie
is the age of progress in the art of oountrv- ;
stealing and nation-pluudering, as well as
everything else.?Phil. Register.
RXV1XW8.
Haps abu Mishaps op a Tou* in Eohops. By
Urnce Ureouwood. Boston Tioknor, Reed A
Fluid* ' I
I ha charm of this volume?and everything
trom the pen of Gruoe Greenwood has a
oliarm?-is a sprigbtliness and a naivete that
disarm criticism, like the laughsome glee of a j
child, to whom the falling snow, the oarly ,
spring, the Crystal Palace, the Christmas tree |
everything in the world of nature, the world !
of art, and the little world of home, is a nov
elty, a mystery, or a poem, yielding some fresh
inspiration to eyes that never weary, and toij
heart that never aches. Among all the "haps
and mishaps " of this year of absenoe, there
was nothing marvellous in the way of adven
ture, or new in the way of sight-seeing; but to
uf Waa new an<* marvellous, and the most
phlegmatic natures will feel the pulses of that
warm, gladsome, womanly heart, and the gush
ings of its joy, though even its spiritual mas
netism may fail to oonvey to others those
shocks of intense pleasure " that made our
author reel in her saddle ? with the intoxioa
tion of sight," as she rode over the " wondrous
lampagna" and gazed upon the "exquisite
ints, and infinite shades, and inconceivable
brightness" of the "sky of skies."
We like Grace amaungly for her downright
honesty; because having a heart, she shows it
without restraint, and yet with a true womanly
delicaoy. We oan bear with her ecstatic* be
cause they aro natural and honest, and there
tore meet a response in all true natures. To '
n? the presence
of the Apollo Kelvidere and the Dying Gladi
ator, ana tries the fullArce of that part of
speech known as the adJWtive; but it is always
a natural emotion, even when wrought to its
highest eostaoy, and is never put on for effect.
uhe 46118 08 how fah? rather
an what she saw?or she describes objects
through her o wn emotions; but then it is pleas
ant and stimulating to know how suoh a mind
was affected by nature, society, art, and reli
gion, in tho Old World?a pleasure next to
that ot seeing with one's own eyes. It is like
istening to muaio from an invisible band on
the still night air.
A downright honesty of opinion, too, she has,
and utters it with the strength and feeling of a
woman s heart. We would give more for one
page of hor instinctive repulsion at the Papal
system, as an imposition upon the chaste aim
phoity of a true devotion, than for a whole j
volumo of invective from Kirwan.
Most heartily do we oommend the book to 1
all lovers of genuine sentiment, of refined and !
poetic feeling, of genial, sprightly narrative, !
and of pure religious prinoiplo. j
The above appreciative notice we find in the
New York Independent. It is, we preaume.
from the pen of Henry Ward Beeoher. We
heartily concur in its encomium of an exooed
ingly pleasant volume of Travels, than which
nothing more racy and readable has been
issued from the press this season. If the au
thor's reoord of impressions abroad is not al
ways as grave, classio, and well-considered as
that of Hilliard's u Six Months in Italy," it i8
fresher, freer, warmer?nay, a more earnest
individuality,
It bears on every page ample evidenoe that
she has been true to her own conviotions; that
she saw with her own eyes, and uttered her
own thoughts. It is very pleasant and exhila
rating to read a book of European travel, whioh
is not a mere intellectual survey of life, art, and
and nature, but a hearty, honest transcript of
all the author saw, felt, and enjoyed, in her
wanderings. A warm, earnest, happy, hopeful
human heart, beats audibly along its pages.
She manifesto, without any disguise, her quiok,
generous, womanly instincts, impulses, and en
thusiasms?loves strongly, and hates deeply?
despises shows and pretences, and looks through
the guady pomp and tinsel splendors of reli
gious despotism, to the wrongs and oppression*
underlying them?and amidst all the seduotive
influences of life at Home, retains her Protest
antism and Democracy, Her representation*
of religious theatrioals, and the way in whioh
Chrintianity m cantatured and common sense
outraged thereby, aro very spirited and effeot
ive. Her contempt for mooklings is as hearty
and emphatic as that of the stout German Re
former himself.
The hook has the tone and coloring of a fa
miliar Jotter; its carelo* abandon and unre
serve only make it the more readable. Its
faults lie on its surfaoe, quite too manifest to
offend any tolerable sport to the oritical hunt
er after blemishes. We oan readily forgive
them, in view of the geuerous and freedom
loving spirit whioh pervade* the volume, and
which, we are sure, will commend it to the
hearts of its readers j y
0 [ COR RKftl'O.IDE KICK OF THE BALTIMORR ?UN.)
Washington, Feb. 12, 1854
The menage communicating the Gadsden
Mexican treaty to the Senate recommend*
some amendment*, but they are few and unim
portant. The better the treaty it understood
the more acceptable it beoomes, and there in
an evident disposition on the part of the Sen
ate to ratify it without amendment.
The election of an Abolition Whig Senator
from Maine wan not expected, ana it wan
brought about, not by the Nebraska question,
ai has been suggested, but by the Democratic
dissensions concerning the Maine Liquor Law
Mr. T. L. Dawson, of Pennsylvania, will next
Tuesday bring up and advooate his bill, grant*
ing to every male bead of a family, and a ciii
aen of the United States, a homestead of 160
acres of land, out of the public domain, on cer
tain conditions.
Mr. Wellcr will advocate the Nebraska bill
to-morrow, and General Houston will follow
in opposition tu its policy in regard to the In
dian tribes. The indications are still in favor
of the paasAge of the bill in the House; but if i
the discussion be protracted till the dog-days,
its hesitating friends may beoome opon oppo
nents.
Mr. Sand ford, the Secretary of the Legation
at Paris, has resigned that post, and Mr. Pratt,
of Ohio, is to suooeed him. Mr. Sandford, oon
forming to the suggestions of Mr. Maroy,
Adopted plain olothes, while the new Minister, !
Mr. J. Y. Mason, adhered to the usual diplo
matic oostume. Upon this question, Mr. Sand- j
ford threw up his office. It is said that a rule
of the Frenon Court requires that foroign rep
resentotiyes shall appear in some designate !
costume. ion.
A Significant Fact.?With a single ex
ception, the press of Hillsborough oounty, N.
H., the native oounty of President Pierce, is
outspoken against the repeal of the Missouii
Compromise in the Nebraska bill. Both the
Democratic papers in Manchester are strongly
against the bilj. One of these papers, the Man
chester Union Democrat, was established in
1850 for tho exprass purpose of helping Pierce
to hound down Jhhn At wood for expressing
Apti-Slavery sympathies ?Botfon Comm
forth* National Hr?
THE LEGAL TENURE OF 8LAVEHY.
LKTTKB X.
COLONIAL AND SUBSEQUENT LEGISLATION
FAILED TO LEGALIZE SLAVERY?TE8TI
MONY OF SLAVEHOLDING JURISTS.
[CONTINUED.]
To the Friends of American Liberty:
" What a falling off is hare!" Slavery, in
stead of requiring munioipal law for its estab
lishment, require municipal law for its prohi
bition! If this bo bo, the decision ol Judge
Matthews in the oaae of Marie Louise may be
questioned. Slavery becomes the condition ot
nature, and statute law must interpose before
it can be displaced! In Maine and Massachu
setts, where there are (probabh) no statutes
" absolutely opposed to Slavery. 1 persons o/
rtadv reduoed to Slavery may be held in it.
A " glorious uncertainty of the law, when ex
pounded to meet the anomalies of Slavery
By the same "legal axiom," afsaulc and
battery, when once committed, might be con
tinued legally, if there are no express statutes
against it-a " legal axiom" that ignores or
reverses oommon law! ,
Nothing short of positive, local, municipal
law, be it remembered, oan legalize Slavery.
This is admitted. This is judicially doc^.ed
This was our starting point. Slaveholding
judge. all the legal a?d taetonoa
archives of the oountry in quest of the said
positive, looal, munioipal law. In vain, they
oan "find no trace of tt." They yield the P?,nt
They oonfess, frankly, the failure. n?k*
HAVK BEEN FOUND, AUTHORIZING THE SLAVE
RY of THE BLACKS." Very well?'What next
A verdict for Freedom? No; an 1 opinion
not a "munioipal law," but only an "opinion ?
not that it is, but that ' it may be (whenever
oommon sense and humanity permit it) a
legal axiom ? that?that what ? In substance,
that any man that can " catch a nigger, and
fetter him, and drive him, may legally continue
to do so, provided no " positive, local, mumoi
pal law'' has been enacted against it! lhe
law logio of John Hawkins revived again. Suoh
are the shifts and exigencies of slaveholdmg,
in quest of legalization !
After all, a closer scrutiny will perhaps en
able us to recall the severity of this last re
mark, as applied to the amiable and discrimi
nating Judge Matthews, however justit may
be in its application to those who deliberately
defend the legal tenure of slaveholding.
Judge Matthews does not say that slavebold
)D? was ever legalized, but only that it was
? permitted and tolerated." He does not tay
that Slavery is now legal, but only that the
slave " may bo held " in hiB present sad condi
tion, however the tenure (whether legal or
otherwise) under which he is held may be de
scribed. Undoubtedly he may, but only be
cause the guilty Government continues to tol
erate " the outrages it ought to suppress.
In saying that " Slavery was tolerated in all
the oolonies," Judge Matthews, by an obvious
implication, denied that it had ever been legal
ised. No acute lawyer who uses legal terms
with precision ever speaks of a praotice which
he oonsiders legal as being tolerated. Govern
ments protect, but do not tolerate, men in the
enjoyment of their lawful rights. Abuses and
nuisanoes are tolerate J, but not innooent, law
fU Judge Matthews then declined to liberate the
slave, not on the ground that he was legal y
enslaved, but on the ground of the tolerance
(forbearance) hitherto exercised, and which it
was deemed difficult, inconvenient, incongru
ous, or ungraooful, for him, as a sU^bolder
among slaveholders, to terminate. Thus Mad
ison continued a slaveholder, though he de
nied the legality of properdin man, and wou d
notoonsent that the Federal Constitution should
contain an admission of ite legality. On the
whole, it is not to be admitted that a jurist ol
Judge Matthews'* attainments and standing
would stultify himself by admitting the legal
ity of slaveholding, after having deolared that
it could not be legalised without posture mu
nicipal law, "no traces" of which could be
found! He did not do it, as his words show.
He carefully and adroitly avoided doing it,
though deciding against a olaim for freedom.
This faot is full of instruction, deserving to be
studied and remembered.
[to be continued.]
| BY HOUSE'S PRINTING TELEGRAPH |
TELEGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE
FOR DAILY NATIONAL ERA.
Markets.
Baltimore, Feb. 13.?Breadstuff* declining.
Flour?sales of 1,000 barrels of Ho*ard Street
and City Mills, at $8 50. Wheat-aales of
5,000 bushels of white, at $2 to $2 05: red a
SI 95 to #2. Corn?wilos of 45,000 bushels ot
white at 92 cents; yellow at 91^to 92 Oats
sales at 49 to 52 cents per bushel. Mutter, in
kegs, at 12 to 13 cents; roll at 15 to 19 cents
per pound.
Baltimobe. Feb. 13, 2ft P M -On late
"change. 3,000 barrels of Howard Street and
City Mills flour were sold at S8 50.
Steamer Terns Arrived? Lalerfrom Mexico.
New Orleans, Feb. 12-The steamer Texas
has just arrived, with later J?^ 'rom Mexico.
She brings specie to the amount of 1160,000.
Among the passengers is ex-President Evollos.
The Indian* of Dnrango have boon defeated,
and much stolen property recovered.
K1 Paso had been declared a port of entry,
and the Mexican marino is to be increased^
It was rumored, wen the steamer left, Hiat
troops wore marohing to Sonora to a??t in
routing Walker and his party of filibusters.
MARRIAGES
In Georgetown, on the 8th inet., by the Rev.
J. M. P. Atkinson, Boudinot 8. Looet, of Balti
more, Maryland, to Miss Nannie, daughter of
the late Geo. French, Esq., of the District of
Colombia
At Baltimore, on the 7th inet, by Rev. R N.
Brown, F. Nicholson, of that oity, to Miss
Harriet A. Tucker, of Washington, D. C.
0 i the 9th instant, by Rev. A. G. Marlatt,
Wiu.iam Y. Robinson, of Baltimore, to Ma
tiloa F. Watson, of this city.
On the 9th mutant, by Rev. Jewte T Peck,
Mr. Peter F. Kessi.kr, of PennHylvania, to
Mim Sylvia Peck, of Washington.
On the 7 th instant, at the F street Preeby*
terian Church, by Rev. James R. Eokard,
Clifford Evans, to Miss Mart Jane, daugh
ter of George M. Dale, Esq., all of this city.
DKATH8.
On the 9th inst at P. M , Mr. Charles
F. Adams, of the National Theatre.
On Wednesday morning, the 8th instant, in
the hope of a blissful immortality, Elexivs
Sim ms, , in the 58th year of his age.
On Thuraday night, at 8 o'clock, after a lin
gering illness, Mrs. Eliza Trego, trusting in
her Saviour, aged 62 years
On Monday, the 6th instant, Fannt, second
daughter of L B. and Augusta L. Hardin, aged
one year, nine months, and sixteen days.
In New York, February 8th, Georgeann,
aged fourteen years, eldest child of Lieut D.
D. and Georgeann Porter.
On the 11th hist, after a long and painful
illness, Richaao Atton, in the 39th year of
his age.
The friends and acquaintances of the family
are invited to attend his funeral, from his late
residence, on Eighth street, between D and E,
(Island.) on Tuesday afternoon, at half-past 2
oolook.